Aleida Guevara tells TUC fringe trade union support helps Cuba extend internationalism

Aleida Guevara – daughter of Che Guevara – received a standing ovation after delivering a powerful speech against the US blockade of Cuba at a CSC fringe meeting at TUC conference on Monday.

Over 250 delegates attended what Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey called “the biggest fringe meeting at the TUC” as Aleida spoke about a “blockade which marks everybody”. 

“In health, the blockade is felt very strongly,” she said. “For instance, there was a child diagnosed with a heart condition but we didn’t have the necessary equipment to treat. We have the know-how and the money to buy the equipment – but no-one will sell it to us because it is licensed by an American pharmaceutical company.”

Despite struggling under a fifty year-old blockade, Cuba has made exceptional advances in the field of healthcare and the development of medicines and vaccines. As Aleida noted, “Cuba is producing a vaccine to treat lung cancer, but the US government won’t allow EU pharmaceuticals to buy it. Why should we allow this to happen?”

Aleida thanked the trade unions for their continuing solidarity and said that this support “has allowed us to extend solidarity to the rest of the world. There are more than 24,000 health professionals working in 66 countries around the world, and this doesn’t include the projects we have in the ALBA countries like Venezuela where we have 10,000. All this is possible because your solidarity exists”

Len McCluskey, said he was proud of the role Unite has played in support of CSC, the Cuban people and the Miami Five. “If there is a still a branch in this room that isn’t affiliated to CSC, then please do. Our solidarity links are very important to what happens in Cuba.” 

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said that his union stood with the Cuban people – not just against the blockade – but because of the example which Cuba provides. “Why do the RMT believe that Cuba is such a beacon? Because they have decided to go down a different route. They have shown that there is a different world out there not based on the size of your wallet.”

“We have to decide what sort of a world we want to live in. The Cuban people don’t have a problem with the American government, it’s the American government that has a problem with them. Cuba is fighting for a different world that lives in peace, a world with housing, education and health. Viva Cuba!”

In his last TUC as General Secretary, Brendan Barber said he was “honoured to be the first TUC General Secretary to visit Cuba” and “proud of the links and relationships we have built up with trade unions in Cuba”. He urged the movement to intensify its support for the Miami Five on the fourteenth anniversary of their arrest. 

As Aleida concluded, “no country has the right to interfere in the internal affairs of another. Fidel taught the Cuban people that if the people unite, there is no power in the world that can stop it. We are united, only 90 miles away from the US, and we have been able to maintain a socialist society. We have many problems, but we have heart.”

“Thank you for your resistance. In my country, it is very easy to be a revolutionary, but for you to keep going with solidarity, this gives us a lot of strength.”

Click here for full details of Aleida Guevara's speaking tour. 

TUC Delegates Support Miami Five

Unite General Secretary, Len McCluskey

Nearly 200 TUC delegates attended a lively Latin America solidarity meeting on Monday to hear from speakers on Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia and Nicaragua and mark the 13th anniversary of the arrest of the Miami Five. Chairing the meeting, NUT General Secretary Christine Blower declared it was “probably the best supported fringe at conference”.

Len McCluskey, Unite General Secretary, started by paying tribute to the Cuban Che Guevara medical brigade in Nicaragua which – organised as a result of the ALBA agreement – has performed more than four million consultations since 2007. Len noted that “whilst the prospect for trade unionists in non-ALBA countries is bleak” Cuba is leading the way in providing “real and material benefits” to the dispossessed of Latin America.

Len told delegates about a “remarkable trade union rally” in defence of the Miami Five in Los Angeles recently which was addressed by Tony Woodley. British trade unions continue to raise the issue of the Five with American unions and, with legal avenues exhausted, only this “spirit of internationalism will break through the wall of silence”.

Cuban Ambassador, Esther Armenteros

Cuban Ambassador, Esther Armenteros, lamented the lack of coverage in the mainstream media of the 13th anniversary of the Miami Five’s arrest. Esther told attendees that the Miami Five “remain unjustly imprisoned for combating terrorism against our country and have been subjected to all sorts of humiliations”.

Esther reflected on a telephone conversation she had with Fernando González when she was working as a diplomat in South Africa. “After ten year in prison, Fernando’s voice was of such strength and conviction that, if I ever feel weak, I think of him”. The British trade union movement knows that it will take the same strength and conviction to bring justice to the Five. This, as Esther observed, will only be achieved by building international solidarity and taking the fight to the US.

Esther also drew attention to a recent Save the Children report which placed Cuba top in Latin America and 8th in the world for paediatrics and children’s medical care. The study was based on three fundamental variables: the number of doctors and nurses per thousand inhabitants, the coverage of the vaccination system and the proportion of women who gave birth with an obstetrician present. Cuba finished ahead of Germany, Russia, France, the UK and America. “How is this possible when we have been subjected to 50 years of economic blockade?” asked Esther. “The US has been stopping Cuba from buying drugs to help sick children – despite this, Cuba has come way ahead of the US”.

Venezuelan Ambassador, Samuel Moncada, hailed the trade union movement as the “most progressive section of British society”. Samuel reflected on the huge social strides made in Venezuela under Hugo Chavez declaring “excluding Cuba, we have the least unequal society in Latin America… and we are striving for the best public services after Cuba too”.

Before delegates mingled over Havana Club cocktails, Christine Blower thanked everyone for attending and Thompsons Solicitors for sponsoring the meeting. “Hope and change clearly is possible,” affirmed Christine as she urged everyone to get involved with CSC’s campaign to mark the 50th anniversary of the blockade which will be launched next month.

The mothers of the Five will join the annual Cuba Solidarity Campaign vigil for the Miami Five outside the US Embassy on 1st December and will be speaking at Latin America Conference 2011 on 3rd December. In Spring 2012, a prestigious exhibition featuring Cuban and British artists will include work by Gerardo and Antonio. For more information on these events and the Miami Five, please click here.